Opinion
February 10, 1999
Appeal from Order of Supreme Court, Herkimer County, Kirk, J. — Summary Judgment.
Present — Green, J. P., Pine, Wisner, Pigott, Jr., and Callahan, JJ.
Order unanimously affirmed without costs. Memorandum: Larry D. Miner (plaintiff) was a tenant in a building destroyed by fire in the Village of Ilion (Village). Plaintiff commenced this negligence action against the owner, another tenant and the Village seeking to recover damages for his losses. Supreme Court properly granted the motions of the Village and the tenant and the cross motion of the owner for summary judgment dismissing the complaint. The owner and tenant established their entitlement to judgment as a matter of law on the issue of proximate cause, and plaintiff failed to submit proof in admissible form that any negligent act of the owner or tenant "was a substantial cause of the events which produced the injury" ( Derdiarian v. Felix Contr. Corp., 51 N.Y.2d 308, 315, rear denied 52 N.Y.2d 784; see, Ithaca Mem. Ch. No. 147, Disabled Am. Veterans v. First Natl. Bank Trust Co., 96 A.D.2d 667). The Village met its initial burden by establishing the absence of any special relationship between plaintiff and the Village ( see, Cuffy v. City of New York, 69 N.Y.2d 255, 260), and plaintiff failed to raise a triable issue of fact.